Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
of the priests' cities. As the priests, for example, were not the sole possessors of the
towns ceded to them in the possessions of the different tribes, the Israelites might
have presented Phinehas with that portion of the city which was not occupied by the
priests, and also with the field, as a reward for the services he had rendered to the
congregation (Num 25:7ff.), just as Caleb and Joshua had been specially considered;
in which case Phinehas might dwell in his own hereditary possessions in a priests'
city. The situation, "upon the mountains of Ephraim," is not at variance with this
view, as these mountains extended, according to Judg 4:5, etc., far into the territory of
Benjamin (see at Josh 11:21). The majority of commentators, down to Knobel , have
thought the place intended to be a Gibeah in the tribe of Ephraim, namely the present
Jeeb or Jibia , by the Wady Jib, on the north of Guphna, towards Neapolis (Sichem:
see Rob. Pal. iii. p. 80), though there is nothing whatever to favour this except the
name.
With the death of Eleazar the high priest, the contemporary of Joshua, the times of
Joshua came to a close, so that the account of Eleazar's death formed a very fitting
termination to the book. In some MSS and editions of the Septuagint, there is an
additional clause relating to the high priest Phinehas and the apostasy of the Israelites
after Joshua's death; but this is merely taken from Judg 2:6,11ff. and Josh 3:7,12ff.,
and arbitrarily appended to the book of Joshua.
(from Keil & Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition,
Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)